If You Give a Pig a Pancake

Title: If You Give a Pig a Pancake

Author: Laura Numeroff grew up in Brooklyn, New York surrounded by books, music, and art. Many of her books can be read because her books can come in a different lagnugae. This is great for a child who does not speak English as a first language.

Publisher: HapperCollins (1998)

Genre: Fiction

Grade Level: K-4

Brief Synopsis: This is a story about a pig who eats pancakes. The story takes you through what happens to the pig while he eats the pancakes and what he has to do to clean up from the mess.

Theme/Skill: Reading Sequence of events/ Language Arts/Cause and Effect

Pre-activity: Have the students create a sequence of things they did throughout the day (timeline).

Post-activity: Students will create a storyline of events that occurred throughout the story, beginning with first, second, third and so on.

My Refection of the book persuading people to read it:

I really like this particular book in the serious because you can have the students create a list of the events in order that occurred throughout the story. This helps the students build comprehension and reading sequencing.

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake

Title: If You Give a Cat a Cupcake

Author: Laura Numeroff was born on July 14, 1953. She is an American author and illustrator. Laura enjoys meeting new people and going to museums and looking at the dinosaur bones.

Publisher: HaperCollins (2008)

Genre: Fiction

Grade Level: K-3

Brief Synopsis: This story is about a cat who gets a cupcake that takes you on a journey of what the cat will ask for next to go with the cupcake. Some places the cat goes is to the beach, karate class, and the park.

Theme/Skill: Imagination and Creativity/ Language Arts

Pre-activity: Have the students imagine they are a cat for the day. Have them give you some ideas of what they would do throughout the day being a cat. List these ideas on the board.

Post-activity: Have the students create a timeline and pretend they are the cat. Have them use their imagination and describe what they think the cat should ask for next using the places the cat goes throughout the story.

My Refection of the book persuading people to read it:
I really enjoy these serious of books! I think it brings out the creativity and imagination in children. I enjoy listening to the children's ideas of what they think will happen next. I feel this story builds on imagination for children.

If You Give a Moose a Muffin

Title: If You Give a Moose a Muffin

Author: Laura Numeroff series "If You Give A..." was rejected nine times before it was accepted by Harper. Some of her favorite animals are horses, raccoons, otters, cats, pandas, dogs, and many more.

Publisher: HaperCollins (1991)

Genre: Fiction

Grade Level: K-3

Brief Synopsis: This is a story about a little boy's imagination about what a moose would do if you gave him a muffin. This story takes you through the day of what the little boy thinks the moose will do with the muffin throughout the day.

Theme/Skill: Imagination/Journey/ Language Arts

Pre-activity: Have the students imagine they are a moose for the day. Have them give you some ideas of what they would do throughout the day being a moose. List these ideas on the board

Post-activity: Have the students create a timeline and pretend they are the little boy. Have them use their imagination and describe what they think a moose would do with the muffin throughout the day.

My Refection of the book persuading people to read it:
I really enjoy these serious of books! I think it brings out the creativity and imagination in children. I enjoy listening to the children's ideas of what they think the moose would do throughout the day with the muffin. I feel this story builds on imagination for children as well as providing a fun read.

The Dog Who Cried Wolf

Title: The Dog Who Cried Wolf

Author: Keiko Kasza was born on a small island Inland Sea of Japan. In 1973 she came over to the United States to continue her education. In 1976 she graduated from California State University at Northridge with a bachelor's degree in graphic arts.

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (2005)

Genre: Fiction

Grade Level: 1-4

Brief Synopsis: This is a story about a little girl and a dog. The little girl reads a story about a wolf to the dog. When the little girl finishes with the story the dog wants to try and become a wolf. The dog decides to run away and be a wolf. He did not like being a wolf at all and he missed the little girl. He decided to go back home and when the dog saw the little girl they both were so happy!

Theme/Skill: Running away from your problems does not make things better/ Language Arts/Problem solving

Pre-activity: Have the students brainstorm what they think the story is about by just seeing the cover of the book. I will list their ideas on the board.

Post-activity: After we read the book as a class we will go through the list we brainstormed before we read the book. By using a venn diagram we will compare and contrast what the story was really about, to our list of what we thought the story was going to be about. Comparing and contrasting the two.

My Refection of the book persuading people to read it:
I think this is a great book for students to realize that by walking away from a situation it does not always make it better in the end. It also shows the students that sometimes the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Overall, I think this is a great book to read to students! I enjoy reading it everytime I get a chance too!

You Can Do It, Sam

Title: You Can Do It, Sam

Author: Amy Hest is an author of more than thiry books for young readers. Many of her books affectionately discuss family and intergenerational themes.

Publisher: Candlewick (2003)

Genre: Fiction

Grade Level: 1-3

Brief Synopsis: This is a story about a little bear and his mother who bake cakes for people. The little bear delivers the cake all by himself in the snow, while his mother watches him. At first the little bear was scared to do it alone, but when he returns home he was so proud of himself for delivering the cake all alone.

Theme/Skill: Independence/Life Skills/ Language Arts/ Generosity

Pre-activity: Have the students brainstorm the first time that they can remember ever doing anything alone. Then have some of the students share their stories with the class. During this time I will ask them questions about how they felt before they did the task independently and then after they completed the task.

Post-activity: Have the students complete a KWL chart about the winter season.

My Refection of the book persuading people to read it:
This is a book about teaching children independence. This book can be used in classrooms where students do not see the snow. This book can help students explore what snow is. I think it is a great book for all teachers to read to their class. I also think it is a great book for the winter season.

The Snowy Day

Title: The Snowy Day

Author: Ezra Keats was one of the most important children's literature author of the 20th Century. The Snowy Day was a Caldecott-Winning book.

Publisher: Viking Juvenile (1996)

Genre: Fiction

Grade Level: 1-2

Brief Synopsis: This is a s tory about a little boy taking an adventure through the snow. When he returns home he tells his mom all about his adventure. When he goes to bed that night he has a dream that all the snow has melted away. When he wakes up he realizes his dream was not true because it was snowing out.

Theme/Skill: Activities throughout the winter season/Language Arts/Science

Pre-activity: Create a concept map about the activities you can do in the winter time.

Post-activity:Have the students write three to four sentences about their favorite winter activity. They can then draw a picture of their activity and share it with the class.

My Refection of the book persuading people to read it:
I have loved this book ever since I was a young child. I have always enjoyed my mother reading it to me. I think it is a great book for children who live in Central New York because they can relate to the snow and the little boy in the story. I also like this book because as an educator you can do so many activities after reading the story to your students.

Hondon & Fabian

Title: Hondon & Fabian

Author: Peter McCarty was born in 1966 in Westport, Connecticut. In 1992 he graduated from School of Visual Arts in New York City. Today he teaches an art class there.

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (2002)

Genre: Fiction

Grade Level: 1-2

Brief Synopsis: This is a story about a cat and dogs close relationship. It shows how two different types of animals get along so well.

Theme/Skill: Relationships/ Language Arts/Compromising and getting along/Friendship

Pre-activity: Have the students brainstorm two types of animals that do not get along. While the students are giving you the examples make sure you list them on the board.

Post-activity: As a class we will create a list of two types of animals that do get a long. After this is done we will compare and contrast the two lists the students came up with.

My Refection of the book persuading people to read it:
I really enjoyed reading this book! I found it to be very useful in a school setting because it shows how different animals that do not enjoy doing the same things can get along so well. The characters have a gentle charm. I feel that it will help in a classroom especially with students that do not have the same interests.